Extract from the Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson Coolidge

December 14. The English Cabinet, on hearing of the seizure of Mason and Slidell from the mail steamer “Trent,” forbade the export of saltpetre and lead, ordered arms sent to Canada, put several
vessels in commission, and sent secret orders to their ambassador, Lord Lyons, as the newspapers state, to demand an apology and the rendition of the commissioners. The steamer “Europa” has been detained in New York until Friday, the twentieth, to take out despatches from Lord Lyons.